I'm getting a really annoying white noise/hiss in the background of my recordings. I can hear this noise while direct monitoring and also when i playback my recordings. I'm gonna list all my equipment and every "solution" i've tried just so you guys know...

- I'm using an i7 HP laptop with windows 10.- My audio interface is a Behringer UMC22. my condenser mic is a Neewer NW-800 pluged with XLR to my interface. And yes, i use phantom power. - I'm not sure if the noise i'm getting is a ground loop. It just sounds like wind/white noise. It's not a high pitch noise or a pop sound, none of that.- I have tried unplugging the laptop to run it only with the battery, but there's no change. - I have disabled any other audio input or output in my laptop (except for my audio interface obviously)- I have tried switching USB ports.

I know the setup i have is cheap and i can't really expect an outstanding performance, but i've seen videos of other people with the same mic and interface, and they say they don't get any noise at all.

HERE'S AN AUDIO TEST FOR YOU GUYS TO LISTEN TO THE NOISE (the audio was recorded on audacity, no effects, just raw audio)

It probably is the Behringer UMC22. TO be honest noise only becomes a problem if you intend to record classical music (orchestra pit) or music heavy in silent passages ~(which would defeat the point in music). IMO noise today is only mentiond alot because manufacturers use it as a selling point to put forward in order to outsell competition. COmpared to 80s noise, in modern devices its negligible. People fixate on it too much,.

Hi Dan and welcome to the forum. Sorry Giro but I disagree, the UMC might be cheap but I have read many reports of them being rather good interfaces, certainly no adverse comments regarding noise.

The Neewer mic on the other hand is a known problem. I have had two, the BM-800 variant and both have been fine but I have read many posts where they are low level, noisy or just don't work at all.

The microphones, when working are remarkably good and the build quality outsatnding for twenty quid! Fortunately there is an easy test. The mics come with an XLR to stereo 3.5mm jack plug cable. Try that straight into the laptop. Both of mine gave quite acceptable results that way. Not AS good as XLR-XLR with full spook juice but acceptable.

If you bought the mic from Amazon I am sure you will have no trouble getting it replaced. QC is well known to be dreadful!

I feel it's probably just background noise, maybe fan noise from the laptop or traffic. The brain masks a lot of that noise out so that you aren't really aware that it's there, but when you record it and play it back, you can hear it more obviously. My hearing is limited to about 10kHz, so I may be missing some of the noise, but it does sound fairly broadband.

I'd try repeating your vocal test recording, then leaving the gain as it was, wrap the mic up in the middle of sound deadening material (e.g. duvets, blankets, pillows) so that any ambient noise levels for the microphone are seriously reduced. If the noise level drops on the recording, then it's background noise. If it doesn't, then I feel it's most likely to be noise from the mic as ef37a said. I have had some cheap mics in the past that aren't particularly quiet and could add audible noise in the background.

If it is background noise, then the laptop fan is probably the main culprit, so get the laptop as far away from the mic as possible and make sure the rear of the mic is pointing towards the laptop. The normal recommendations of hanging up some sound absorbent material behind you (e.g. a duvet) to cut down on reflected sound, and also to put a similar barrier up between the back of the mic and any noise source. Close any open windows.

I've had a listen. Your voice track is peaking up to around -4dBFS while the average background noise floor is around -55dB (rms) which isn't great.

It sounds to me like electronic noise, rather than acoustic -- but Wonk's test where you smother the mic and compare the noise level will prove it one way or the other.

I strongly suspect most of that noise is coming from the mic, not the interface.

H

Oo-err! Seems my "calibration" has gone screwy somewhere Hugh? I get the track at -40dBfs with odd peaks to -35? The noise, edited out as 16 bit .wav runs at -70dBfs in Samplitude, a very poor S/N as you say indeed.

An RMA plot of the noise shows just a slighly downward tilted spectrum devoid of any tones or whistles. Really quite clean given the nature of the beasts!

Dave.

The noise floor is frankly where I would expect it to be for that mic but the sensitivity is way too low by MY reckoning?

Cracked it! I had removed Dropbox because I found it very intrusive but eventually found a way to download the clip.

Absolute peak level -5dBfs and the noise around -46? Not good.

The test signal was bob on -20dBfs but I have found out that Fire fox does not give the "Save target as" option. I don't know if one of the other options is the same? I had to go back to IE11 to do it. Then, WinZip tells me it wants money to continue! I hate WZ anyway because it changes all the relevant icons. Win Explorer extracted the file.